Present day tractor vehicles are undergoing rapid evolution brought about for the most part by a demand for a vehicle with greatly increased horsepower. This results in a development of larger vehicles with the provision of more power controls to aid the operator in such functions as steering, braking, and implement control. Simultaneously, with this growth in vehicle size, new environmental control regulations have made it desirable that the operator be isolated from vehicle produced vibrations and noise. At the present time these problems are solved by providing the operator with a vibration dampened cab and by attempts to vibration dampened or otherwise insulate such components as the brake controls, steering wheel, and other direction control devices from direct contact with the vehicle. The current trend in tractor vehicle design has been toward the isolation of a cab as one problem and isolation of the vehicle controls as a second problem.
Also of consequence of tractor vehicle development is the increase of equipment that is remotely controlled from the operator's work station. Not only does the tractor operator have to attend to vehicle speed and direction as usual but now he also is concerned with operating the ancillary equipment he is working with. As contemporary tractors increase in horsepower, the speed that the tractor is driven increases proportionately. This combination of increased speed and broadening of the operator's responsibility for equipment control imposes a significant work load on the vehicle operator if he is to run the tractor vehicle at its optimum efficiency. In order to simplify the operation of the tractor vehicle, a multiple functioning control armrest integral with the vehicle seat of the control module is disclosed by this invention. The control armrest of the invention incorporates all the functions necessary for the operation of a tractor vehicle such as forward-neutral-reverse drive mode selection, vehicle speed, vehicle braking, and vehicle direction in addition to a functional mode that can be used for control of ancillary implements.
The incorporation of vehicle control mechanisms in a single level control is well known in the art. A single lever control stick has been applied to various applications where individualized controls would be difficult to operate. Specific examples are wide spread in all-terrain vehicles, powered wheelchairs for invalids, and occasionally other hydrostatic transmission equipped vehicles where the characteristics of the transmission lends itself to the use of a single stick control.
The normal operation of single lever control sticks does not include the operation of ancillary equipment such as tractor trailing implements as taught by this invention, nor do normal single lever control sticks incorporate an armrest serving the two-fold function of providing an ancillary equipment operating means and a support platform for the operator's arm.
The integration of the vehicle controls with the vibration isolated control module is possible through the use of flexible cables and/or hydraulic fluid lines running to the control armrest. The control module would be built on isulation mounted platforms and may consist of at least the vehicle seat having one armrest housing the vehicle and implement control apparatus and the other armrest housing the state of the vehicle indicator panels and other necessary equipment. The platform may also incorporate a contemporary superstructure providing roll-over protection and isolation from weather elements.
The control module of the invention will be compatible with a broad range of vehicles designed for use with the control outputs provided by the control armrest. For instance, on an agricultural tractor the implement hitch, as well as normal speed and direction functions, will be controlled by the control armrest while on a combine, the cutterbar, as well as normal speed and direction functions, would be controlled by the control armrest. The use of a common control module is presently not possible for state of the art vehicle control systems as the steering wheel, brake rods, clutch mechanisms, and shift levers must all be individually positioned for each type of vehicle.
In accordance with this invention, the heretofore separate cab assembly and various control means have been combined as a single unit to form a modularized operator's station. The overall assembly is supported on a vehicle frame by a flexible means such as rubber or vibration isolation mounts. As noted earlier, the controls have been incorporated into a movable armrest on the vehicle seat.